Cockpit control panels include switches, voltage control reference devices, annunciating devices and other pilot operating devices that are manually operated and acted upon by the pilot to control remotely located aircraft components such as, for example, lighting systems, air conditioning, and landing gear. State of the art designs of today's conventional aircraft cockpit control panels (CCP) are based on discrete electrical components with fixed point-to point connection between the components by way of copper electrical wire. Each individual CCP uses multiple insulated electrical wires that can be more than fifteen to twenty feet in length to control various electrical loads by discrete electrical control signals.
The number of wires that are required for this point-to-point connection between the CCP and electrical loads adds significant weight to the aircraft and occupy precious space in the cockpit and aircraft. Because of the dedicated nature of the connections between the pilot operating devices on the CCP and the electrical loads they control, control commands must be set individually for each electrical load. The conventional CCP cannot effectively communicate data with the aircrafts' flight computer or other on-board computers associated with various load systems. In addition, the conventional CCP cannot effectively collect, process and intelligently display data from different sources of electric load systems. Finally, the technique of hardwiring pilot operating devices to the aircraft components they control does not enable the pilot operating devices and the aircraft components to communicate with each other on more than a most basic level.